Tips And Ideas On How To Do A Article

Posts Tagged ‘behavior’

Changing consumer behavior is being attributed, in large part to new consumer values. The emerging narrative is, quite literally, taking over the conversation between consumers and corporations trying to catch their attention. We are all familiar with the themes. Green, sustainable, community, connection, consciousness, globalism and so on. Sounds like we can all congratulate ourselves on being a more enlightened people but I’m having a hard time swallowing it.

What are these new values and what relationship do they really have with how we spend our money and develop brand loyalty? I think that values are self defined, self endowed virtues that we use to positively interpret our own behavior. Badges, as it were, invented by our aspirations and pinned, by our ego’s, onto our identities where they shine for all the world to see. The gap between the energy we are prepared to invest in defending our values and the effort we make actually employing them is so broad as to make it clear that values are both deeply important to us yet entirely optional from a practical standpoint. They are permissive and don’t carry the performance requirements of, say, principles which must always be applied to hold true. On a list of needs to wants, values would fall into the “nice to have” section.

By way of illustration, as if a good hard look at all of our own personal lives wasn’t enough, consider how enraptured we are with stories of self sacrifice and lofty deeds. This is because they are the heroic tales of values actually winning out over self interest and that is rare indeed. Values allow us to positively interpret our self interested behavior so it is no surprise that they have come to dominate the narrative between business and the consumer. What is surprising however is that more people don’t recognize that this narrative is somewhat of a “tea party conversation” that skirts the real, if less flattering, motivations behind our choices. That does not make the narrative any less useful as it pertains to branding, marketing and communications in general, but it does mean that it is only part of the picture. It makes sense for corporations to fill in the blanks if they want to address the real concerns and motivations of their customers.
So what are consumers experiencing right now? How do they feel and what are their new values an expression of? What do they need or want to hear from business to address the actuality of their lives in these highly volatile and transitional times? There are no definitive answers to these questions but they are the questions that companies need to be asking themselves if they want to engage in the values narrative with consumers in a way that also connects with their stronger, more basic motivations.

I think the values that are emerging are all, ultimately, based on a nation wide sense of uncertainty. To put it bluntly; Fear. Fear of what exactly? Grossly simplified; fear of scarcity and fear of threat. Scarcity (or the recognition of it, despite being the first law of economics, has only very recently shown up in the American consumer psyche. For the first time we are realizing that our consumption habits are unsustainable and do not support our long term, or even sort term, well being. Realization did not come in the form of enlightenment but in the growing cost of, food, fuel, housing and so on. The impact of climate change, water and air pollution and the growing prevalence of things like asthma, autism, allergies and so on in our kids has strengthened our grasp on the concept of scarcity. Our rational response is to conserve and ration. The value system that validates that behavior is environmentalism and sustainability. The values are very real but they are not our primary motivator. We are, on a much more primitive level, afraid of running out of the things that we rely on.

The second set of values are based are a response to perceived threat. A convergence of events has made us feel exposed and vulnerable. We have come under attack and lost our sense of security within our boarders. We have had to relinquish the moral high ground and seen our economic superiority threatened by the rise of India and China. Our economy went from very strong to very weak in an extraordinarily short period of time to the very real economic detriment of millions of Americans. Our, once again, completely rational response is to develop somewhat of a wartime mentality. To gather together and form communities. To be more tolerant and less arrogant towards our neighbors whose strength is growing relative to our own. The primary motivator is fear and the value system that it represents is all about relationships, engagement, diplomacy, tolerance, community, connectedness and globalization. Probably the best expression of this shift is the election of Barack Obama to be President. We put aside old prejudices and a value system structured around superiority and replaced it with one that fits better with conditions over which we have no control and no choice but to adapt.

So in conclusion, I would suggest that changing consumer values are the symptom and not the cause of changing economic, social and environmental conditions. Corporations seeking to connect with consumers today should absolutely engage in the values narrative but should do so with the understanding that it is the result of what amounts to fear and insecurity. How do you talk to a consumer who is fearful and insecure? You have the conversation with them about values that they want to have because it makes them feel comfortable and virtuous. You also acknowledge, explicitly or implicitly, the actuality of their experience and the challenges that they are facing. Without that, the narrative around values remains vaguely insubstantial and somehow fails to get to the heart of the matter.

Written by Sara Batterby
Brand and Messaging Strategist
http://www.akelventures.com

“Observing Consumer Behavior: Past, Present and Future” Workshop with guest speaker Abbe Macbeth, PhD of Noldus Information Technology. The workshop was held on July 17th, 2015 at L&E Research’s Cincinnati facility. For more information or a copy of Abbe’s presentation, please email bizdev@leresearch.com.

There are more and more episodes of bullying being reported on the news today. This is becoming a severe problem in our country. Sure, bullies have always been around but with the technology that kids are exposed to now, the bullying can be nonstop. Follow these parenting advice so you can recognize the child behavior signs associated with bullying.

Watch for Withdrawal

One of the earliest child behavior signs that bullied children exhibit is withdrawal. Even young children start to close themselves away in their bedrooms and avoid contact with everyone, including family members. Bullying makes a child feel isolated and alone and the emotional trauma causes them to retreat and isolate themselves further. Most tips for parents suggest that if this child behavior is allowed to go on for a period of time, irreparable damage could be done to the child’s psyche.

Beware of Bruising

Many children who are bullied by others are physically assaulted by them as well. One of the best tips for parents is to be aware of any suspicious bruising on your child. A child who has been assaulted by others might flinch when approached or touched. This is a classic and common child behavior exhibited when someone has been or is being bullied.

Forgetting about Friends

Children who are being bullied often begin to disassociate themselves from their friends. They will no longer run home and want to go out to play. Usually, bullied kids do their best to hide themselves away from the world. When this child behavior surfaces, the child is beginning to believe everything that the bullies are saying about them. It is essential for parents to recognize these child behavior signs and find out what is going on immediately.

Speaking of Suicide

Although young children rarely use the word “suicide”, but at times, kids might say that they want to die or want to kill themselves. Hopefully, you will have acted before the bullying got to this extreme level. If a child behaves like this, you need to talk to your child gently and be loving towards your child.

Stand Up for Your Child

Being a parent, you must act as soon as you find out that your child is a victim of bullying. Rarely will a child admit that he is being bullied. You’ll need to recognize the signs on your own and do a little bit of investigation.

You should contact your child’s teacher for an appointment. Inform her that you don’t want your child to know about your meeting. Explain to her that your child is exhibiting typical child behavior signs associated with being bullied. Tell her that you expect that she watch your child carefully to see if anyone is victimizing your child and that she report back to you in a few days.

A lot of bullying occurs on the school bus. Many school districts have security cameras on the buses. You can schedule an appointment with the principal and tell him that you would like to review all bus tapes for the past month. Legally, you are allowed to do so.

Talk to a Therapist

Your child might be too embarrassed to talk to you about his problem with bullies. It would be best if you set up an appointment with a child behavior psychologist. Many kids balk at the thought of a therapist, but you will need to use your delicate positive parenting techniques to help your child recognize that he can’t handle this problem on his own.

Not surprisingly, we’ve spent a lot of time at Asana working to maximize our efficiency and effectiveness, so I made a video about how we use Asana at Asana. We hope some of these tips are helpful to you in managing your own projects.

Many studies on consumer behavior show that buyers have the tendency to focus on products with beautiful packaging. This includes the shape of the container, the design of the package, and the product label. These factors are known to influence consumer patterns leading to an innovation in the commodity industry. It may sound unnatural at first; but the packaging of a product is something that companies have to invest on.

The product label is the first thing that buyers look at when shopping for grocery items. If it catches the eye of the buyer, chances are, it ends up in the buyers push cart. This kind of behavior is the reason why product labels endlessly improve in design to increase their sales.

Product labels also carry the names of their products—and not only in the literal sense. The trademark of a company is carried by the packaging design. People will know the brand they trust just by looking at the style of the product’s packaging. This avoids counterfeits and imitations from getting the consumer’s attention.

Today’s product labels are printed in full color, thanks to a process known as the four-color process. The colors used in this method are better known as the group of cyan, magenta, yellow and black—collectively known by its acronym, CMYK. Four color process labels are more detailed and attractive compared to simple black-and-white labels. It has been tried and tested for generations as an effective means of product marketing.

Color makes the image more striking and realistic; thus, colored labels make an impact on consumer behavior. It gives the product a clear description of what it is and what it is for at first glance. Nearly all grocery items and other goods today and have Four color process labels pasted on them.

Labels distinguish products from one another, making them easy references for consumers. Companies make different label styles to create their own trademarks. Those trademarks can be enhanced by using color to make them more striking. It can be said that the competition in business is determined and by the design of products’ labels.

If you have questions, please visit us at www.applesonpress.com for complete details and answers.